Eleuthera Island (Princess Cays) Expansion

[whitecap]

Maybe I am late to the party but, on our recent cruise, Feb 11-25, while making a stop at Princess Cays, we noticed that it appeared a pier/dock was being built nearby.  Now we have read on Cruise Industry News that Disney is taking over part of the island as a port of call and that it will be called Disney at Lighthouse Point.  It appears that it will be a family friendly adventure with excursions, beach events etc.

Wondering how this will affect Princess Cays?  Will Princess be able to use the pier/dock to finally get away from using tenders?  Will they expand Princess Cays to provide more activities?  Just wondering if anyone has read or heard anything about this.

[azbirdmom]

From what I understand that dock is only for Disney.  As for future plans, it's anyone's guess as to what Princess will do to improve things but given the CCL financials I would say it's doubtful that they will spend the $$ to improve Princess Cays anytime soon.  These were the last expansion plans announced by CCL and they did not include Princess Cays (note: I don't think the projects mentioned here have been completed yet either).  https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-government-bahamas-sign-agreements-develop

[whitecap]

5 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

From what I understand that dock is only for Disney.  As for future plans, it's anyone's guess as to what Princess will do to improve things but given the CCL financials I would say it's doubtful that they will spend the $$ to improve Princess Cays anytime soon.  These were the last expansion plans announced by CCL and they did not include Princess Cays (note: I don't think the projects mentioned here have been completed yet either).  https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-government-bahamas-sign-agreements-develop

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, whitecap said:

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

It sure will. Princess has one of the saddest private islands around. it desperately needs improvements. 

[Musky Ike]

13 hours ago, MissP22 said:

It sure will. Princess has one of the saddest private islands around. it desperately needs improvements. 

Depends on what they consider "improvements".

[Coral]

I am guessing the dock will only be for Disney. 

[whitecap]

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

I am guessing the dock will only be for Disney. 

I've thought about it and looking at the plan that Disney has, and plans on having up and running by the summer of 2024, I'm wondering if Princess will abandon Eleuthera for Half Moon Cay.

[Coral]

18 minutes ago, whitecap said:

I've thought about it and looking at the plan that Disney has, and plans on having up and running by the summer of 2024, I'm wondering if Princess will abandon Eleuthera for Half Moon Cay.

Half Moon Cay would be a positive change! With Princess and HAL combining more resources - this would be cool IMO.

 

My Mom went with Princess in 1984 and they used "Palm Island" in Grenadines as their private island.

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:52 AM, whitecap said:

Wondering how this will affect Princess Cays?

There is a trail that people could walk to get to Lighthouse Point from the Princess resort area. I assume that this trail will now dead-end at a fence where the Disney resort area begins. People certainly are not going to be allowed to just wander onto Disney property. 

2 hours ago, whitecap said:

I'm wondering if Princess will abandon Eleuthera for Half Moon Cay

With HAL and sometimes Carnival ships already using it, is there room for PCL?  Seems a bit crowded. 

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

There is a trail that people could walk to get to Lighthouse Point from the Princess resort area. I assume that this trail will now dead-end at a fence where the Disney resort area begins. People certainly are not going to be allowed to just wander onto Disney property. 

With HAL and sometimes Carnival ships already using it, is there room for PCL?  Seems a bit crowded. 

Oh yea - they won't let Princess people use Disney's area!

 

Carnival used to use Princess Cays awhile ago also - though I think it was when Nassau was damaged due to a hurricane (or some other stop).

 

The only way Princess could use HAL's area is if they expanded their space IMO.

[whitecap]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

There is a trail that people could walk to get to Lighthouse Point from the Princess resort area. I assume that this trail will now dead-end at a fence where the Disney resort area begins. People certainly are not going to be allowed to just wander onto Disney property. 

With HAL and sometimes Carnival ships already using it, is there room for PCL?  Seems a bit crowded. 

Agree.  Disney will close off any access to their area.  With Disney taking part of Eleuthera and RCCL now announcing their agreement to build a "resort type area" on Paradise Island (Nassau), seems to me several of the major cruise lines are being left in the dust.  

[Wishing on a star]

Where exactly is this pier/dock?

How large does this pier/dock seem to be.

A dock that is large enough to be a cruise ship pier would be a huge project.

The water would have to be deep enough.

 

The Disney area is not on the Western side of the island where Princess Cayes is.

It should be over on the Western side.  It looks to be huge, and amazing, but of course very Disney.

 

Unfortunately, I think everyone would have to agree that, even though most of us aren't looking for a full 'theme park' private island/beach experience.  Princess is, like, the worst. 

[whitecap]

7 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Where exactly is this pier/dock?

How large does this pier/dock seem to be.

A dock that is large enough to be a cruise ship pier would be a huge project.

The water would have to be deep enough.

 

The Disney area is not on the Western side of the island where Princess Cayes is.

It should be over on the Western side.  It looks to be huge, and amazing, but of course very Disney.

 

Unfortunately, I think everyone would have to agree that, even though most of us aren't looking for a full 'theme park' private island/beach experience.  Princess is, like, the worst. 

I will try to post a couple of pictures:  The first shows Princess Cays and where Disney's Lighthouse Point will be; the second shows where the dock/pier work is being done although when there a couple of weeks ago, the pier/dock was well underway.  

[Wishing on a star]

Thanks!

That would be quite a little transfer from the ship over to their Disney Island.

But, if that was the only place building was easily possble, then that could be what they are doing.

If Disney is the only one behind this, then you could probably bet that their ships are the only ones that will able to use it.

However, if this is kind a joint venture with the Bahama Islands, Disney, and Princess in there as well, then perhaps there will be docking for more than one ship at a time?

 

I don't follow a lot of the corporate stuff, but I don't think anyone has hinted at Princess doing anything big at Princess Cays.

 

We can only hope that Disney's new facilities will help Princess to see the reality from their supposed 'family' cruise perspective, and improve Princess Cayes, a lot.

Not necessarily theme-park, but overall improvements to the beach, entertainment, and dining.  That kind of thing.  Needs it bad!!!

[PescadoAmarillo]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

There is a trail that people could walk to get to Lighthouse Point from the Princess resort area. I assume that this trail will now dead-end at a fence where the Disney resort area begins.

 A little part of me just died at that thought. 
 

For those who haven’t been down there, DH and I walked it several times. Here is a blog post with some photos. The beaches there (there are at least three) are natural and endless and gorgeous, unlike the man made one at Princess Cays. 
 

http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/2016/02/day-136-princess-cays-aka-eleuthera.html

Edited March 11, 2023 by PescadoAmarillo

[Wishing on a star]

Okay, I found this

https://thenassauguardian.com/disneys-eleuthera-cruise-port-to-open-summer-of-2024/

 

Disney Cruise Line will open its new cruise port at Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera.

Does not sound like any big joint venture.

 

The article states that this is Disney's cruise port.

And,   "Disney Cruise Line will open its new cruise port at Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera in the summer of next year, the cruise line said in a press statement released yesterday.

That statement explained that, as promised, citizens and residents of The Bahamas will have access to the Lighthouse Point property, though for “non-commercial purposes”.

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Wishing on a star

[whitecap]

Google maps clearly shows what appears to be a road way from where the dock/pier is being established and the Disney property.  It doesn't appear to be a very long distance and my guess would be that they will run a tram back and forth.  

[Steelers36]

32 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

But, if that was the only place building was easily possble, then that could be what they are doing.

My thought is that DCL placed the dock on the west (southwest) side since it is more sheltered for the ships.  I expect the prevailing winds blow on the east side of the island.

[Waynetor]

When I walked down there, beside the dune buggies the parking area had about 10 cars so locals residents do use it.  Hopefully the very south part on the map will still be available.

 

The first time I went I walked all the along the shore from Princess Cay - it gets very rough and rocky -definitely a one-time thing. 

[Coral]

Disney has enough $$$ to build a dock!

[EDVM96]

I prefer Grand Turk as the Bahamas inbetween stop much more than an articicial private beach anything.

[JimmyVWine]

Here is a cut and paste of a review of Lighthouse Beach posted on Google Maps (One Star). I suspect that when all is said and done, the road to the actual lighthouse will remain a public access road, (it sort of has to), but everything to the north and east of that will be Mickey Beach.

“When we visited January 2nd, 2023 the road to the lighthouse was closed by Disney construction. Beach access was open but had a 2 mile walk to the lighthouse. History was cool and the scenery was beautiful. But, not worth the 2 hour drive we made and the 2 mile walk. There are more beautiful, easier to access areas of the island.”